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business newsWhen Your Boss Is a Star: Sean "Diddy" Combs
The rap mogul looks for self-starters with an eye for style.
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“To be Diddy’s assistant you have to have personality and an 'I do not take no for an answer' attitude. He doesn’t want you to be loud or obnoxious, though. He likes self-motivated people who are patient," says Kuperman. "He wants you to be a little bit of manipulative and coercive, but then you have to know your boundaries so that you get stuff done for him in an efficient way."
On the show, Kuperman and his team were asked to complete odd tasks, like convince a model to come along for a Diddy photo shoot, or come up with a tagline for a new line of sunglasses. They were also asked to “multitask," an exercise in which the teams were given 50 items on a to-do list -- such as hire a clown for one of Diddy's children's birthday parties, wash his car, or buy watches -- all within 24 hours. "I think I got as far as I did because I already had background in the entertainment industry," says Kuperman. "I am persuasive and persistent. I also have a lot of contacts.”
"If I had won, there would have been a lot of work with his personal life," he says. Diddy's real personal assistant has to look after his kids and pick them up from school, and help run odd errands for Kim Porter, the mother of three of Diddy’s four children.
"Diddy wants you to make sure his clothes are good, and that he has certain ones that he specifies, and that they are in a certain order. His clothes always have to be in the right order," Kuperman recalls.
The assistant always travels with Diddy. "You have to have a cell phone on 24 hours a day and answer it at all times."
"It doesn’t take academic knowledge to be his assistant as much as it does persistence. Working for him is kind of like being in the military.” he says. "With Diddy it’s a matter of earning your points and stripes."
Kuperman now has plans to finish his studies in entertainment law at George Mason University in Virginia.
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THE SALARY: "For my time on the show I earned a total of a few thousand dollars," says the would-be assistant. |
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THE PERKS: In this case, a television appearance. Diddy’s regular assistants are invited to the star’s lavish bashes, including his annual White Party. |
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THE LESSONS LEARNED: "You have to deal with egos and accept that the personal assistant is the one who gets picked on," says Kuperman. "You do things you don’t want to do." |
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